


Void

by calsicle



Category: Assassination Classroom
Genre: Angst, Character Death, M/M, Mystery, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-05
Updated: 2015-05-05
Packaged: 2018-03-29 05:42:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3884578
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/calsicle/pseuds/calsicle
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Void - /void/ - adjective.<br/><i>completely empty.</i></p><p>「There was an empty chair in Class E, and Karma couldn't help but wonder who was it who used to occupy that seat.」</p>
            </blockquote>





	Void

**Author's Note:**

> based on an Indonesian AsaKaru fic made by Akaba_Shinra.

There was an unoccupied chair in Class E, placed between Akari's and Nakamura's seat, and Karma would always wonder why it was empty. It had always been empty since his suspension, but every time his golden oculars ogle at the chair, he would feel like as if chains were binding his chest. And to him, it was weird, inasmuch as he didn't know the person who was sitting on that chair, if any. Once, Karma attempted to find information apropos of the empty chair, but his endeavor was in vain.

That day, he'd gone to Nakamura to ask the blond some queries about the student who sat on the empty chair, considering her seat was positioned next to it.

“Nakamura-san, who’s the student who used to sit there?” He'd asked.

But the blonde only answered, “H-Huh? No, it was always empty even before your suspension...”

And Karma wasn't stupid. He could tell from the way she stammered, she was lying. But before the redhead could open his mouth to continue interrogating the girl, Nakamura shot him a rueful grin and saluted, saying, "Well! I need to go somewhere with the other girls so, _deuces_!" before scurrying off, leaving a bummed out Karma.

Karma didn't try to ask her anymore so everything was fine after that.

Again, today was one of the days where Koro-sensei would catch him staring at the unoccupied chair, and then leniently chide him for not paying attention to the lesson.

“Karma-kun!” The octopus' adenoidal voice echoed throughout the class, and instead of making eyes turn to him, all eyes turn to the redhead instead, to his irritation.

“Hm?”

“I've told you many times; please pay attention to the lesson! I know you're smart, but you still have to.”

Karma frowned, inspecting the words that were written on the chalkboard by the yellow octopus. He then averted his gaze, rolling his eyes around lazily. “I already know this.”

“Hnnng . . . ! Karma-kun, please pay attention!” When Karma didn't answer, Koro-sensei let out a sigh, and said in a gentler tone, “I know you are curious about the empty chair, but really, it's really empty since the beginning of the first semester.”

“Hn.”

In view of the fact that Karma was being taciturn and decided not to open his mouth anymore, Koro-sensei continued his lesson until the school was over.

The classroom was almost empty when Karma stood up and took his bag into his grip and turned on his heels. He was about to head home when he changed his mind upon seeing Akari putting in her books into her bag. Settling his bag on his shoulder, he went and called the girl, “Akari-chan.”

Successfully getting her attention, Akari turned her head, her slightly cold yellow orbs gazing into his golden ones. “Do you need something?”

“You know what I wanna ask you,” Karma rolled his eyes.

“You’re right,” Akari said, putting her bag on her shoulder and faced him, a humorless laugh escaping her lips. “I do know.”

“So?”

Her eyes gazed to the vacant table beside her, and Karma could see a glint of woe and melancholy in them, but just for a moment, and then it disappeared again once she looked away―to him.

“I'm not a good liar, so I will only tell you one thing about it; it is confidential.”

 _Not a good liar . . . What bull crap._ Karma scowled in annoyance. “Confidential, as in everybody but me knows?” A sardonic laugh left his lips, before it turned into a straight line once more. “Yeah, no.”

“You should be happy that I decided to tell you that there was someone who sat there,” Akari said apathetically as she made her way toward the classroom's entrance. Stopping at the threshold, she turned her head past her shoulder, to him, and with a cynical smirk, she said to him, “Well, I suppose there will be a time in which you will _remember_.”

* * *

 

_“Well, I suppose there will be a time in which you will remember.”_

“Aghh.” A disgruntled groan escaped the redhead's lips as he agitatedly scratched his hair, causing it to be more tousled than before.

Those words Akari said to him made him more and more frustrated than before, and he couldn't stop thinking about it. He was so infuriated to the point that he couldn't walk anymore and decided to sit on a swing in a small park.

It was nice there, with no one around. Kids were ought to play at this hour, but there were no kids in his sight, which was good. He needed some quiet time to relax, and right now was a great time. Karma allowed his shoulders to fall as he let out a sigh, resting his head against his palm which was supported by his bent knees. He stared at the street across him, no cars visible. There was a zebra cross painted along the street―and for some reason, looking at it made his head hurt, as if something was trying to fall apart, so he decided to look away.

“What does she meant by that . . .” Karma murmured, Akari's voice echoing in the back of his mind. The first prospect that came to his mind was that he may have forgotten something, but he couldn't figure out what. And the others wouldn't tell him about it.

“It is confidential,” Akari had said to him. If he couldn't remember something that he had experienced as well, then that would mean he has the rights to know what that something is.

Then why is it confidential? Does this have something to do with Koro-sensei and his classified existence? Or is it something?

“Aarghh, this is so infuriating . . .” Karma scowled, once again scratching the back of his head agitatedly.

“Hey, are you okay?”

Karma's head went up upon hearing the silvery voice of someone, and his golden orbs immediately touched the stranger's cerulean ones. And Karma couldn't help but think of them as a pair of stunning orbs―he'd stare at it all day if it were possible.

Those cerulean eyes blinked, and repeated, "Hey, you. Are you okay?"

Finally snapped from his reverie, Karma blinked several times, dazed, staring at the stranger blankly. That was when he got to see the person who was standing before him more clearly.

He looked like a girl, but Karma knew he was a boy. His hair was a shade of ultramarine, tied neatly into pigtails. It matched faultlessly with his pair of cerulean orbs. To his eyes, he was like a painting, painted using palette of shades of blues. His petite figure was short and slim, adorned by a long-sleeved black shirt and black leggings that reached his ankle. And for some odd reason he didn't know, he was barefoot.

A mixture of black and blue. He liked it.

“I’m okay,” Karma finally said after a moment. He straightened his limbs, holding the rusty chain of the swing with one hand, the other hand massaging his temple. “I’m great.”

The boy took a seat on the other swing next to the one he was sitting on, eyes still on him. “You don’t look like it.”

Karma didn’t answer—he just let out a humorless laugh.

He’d thought that would be the end of their conversation, but when the boy introduced himself out of the blue, he knew he was wrong.

“I’m Nagisa, Shiota Nagisa,” he said. “What’s your name?”

Karma turned his head to the boy—Nagisa—and this time, he perused him comprehensively. His cerulean orbs were just too stunning that they took over his whole face. Karma couldn’t seem to avert his gaze away, even if he wanted to. It was as if those eyes were glue.

“Karma,” the redhead said. “Akabane Karma.”

“Karma-kun,” Nagisa laughed. “What a unique name.”

For some reason, the laugh made him smile.

“Well, I _do_ like the name.”

And he decided that he didn’t particularly mind the blue-haired boy’s company.

* * *

 

“You look happy.”

Karma looked up, and his eyes met with Akari’s yellow ones. The smile that was dancing on his lips grew wider in amusement as he replied, “Do I?”

“Yeah,” Akari pulled Itona’s seat, putting it beside Karma’s. Itona didn’t seem to mind, for he was sitting on Terasaka’s table, which caused the latter to be annoyed. Once finding the position to be comfortable, Akari sat down. “And it’s scary.”

“Did something good happen?” Sugino, who just came, assumed. Okuda and Kanzaki followed behind him, a smile adorning their features.

“Hmm, you can say it like that~” Karma said. “Hey, don’t sit on my table.”

“Ehe, sorry~”

“But it’s good that Karma-kun is feeling happy!” Okuda said.

“Yeah, and it’s scary.”

Karma gave Akari an incredulous look. “You don’t need to repeat that twice, you know.”

“So, so~ tell us what happened exactly!” Sugino said enthusiastically.

For a split second, there was a frown on Karma’s lips, but it forthwith curved into another of his signature smirk. “Nooo way~ it’s a secret!”

Sugino made a face at his reply. He slouched down, resting his chin on Karma’s table as he gave the redhead a huffy look. “Tell ussss!”

“Why, can’t I keep some things to myself?” Karma retorted, but still with a smirk across his pale features.

“Well, yes, of course! But—”

Seeing that Sugino couldn’t finish his sentence, Kanzaki said, “We should respect Karma-kun’s privacy, Sugino-kun.”

The said boy’s cheeks grew crimson and quickly looked away to hide it, a pout was made on his lips. They all laughed at his reaction.

“Sugino-kun, your cheeks are as red as Karma-kun’s hair,” Okuda laughed, teasing the baseball boy, which made him more and more embarrassed.

“G-Geez, guys! Just drop it!” Sugino huffed in annoyance, but then grew another smile across his face, the shade of red from earlier slowly vanished from his tanned countenance. “Anyway, changing the topic! There’s this new cafe near the skirt of the mountain. Do you want to go there?”

“Ah, I saw that too! It looks good, so maybe I will!” Okuda exclaimed.

“It sounds fun, so I’ll go~” Kanzaki said, accompanied by her usual angelic smile.

“I’m free, so, I’ll go with you guys,” Akari said.

Karma knew they would avert their eyes to him once they finish talking—and they did. All of them, including Akari, looked at him with some sort of anticipation in their eyes. Karma winced, knitting his eyebrows to show that he was displeased with the stares. But they didn’t even bother to look away—they kept their gazes on him. Giving up, the redhead growled, “No, I won’t go.”

“Eeeeeh? Why?”

“I have something to do after school, sorry~”

“Hmm, it can’t be helped then,” Kanzaki said.

Kanzaki then brought up another new topic, but Karma didn’t follow. His mind was on a certain person who he will be meeting after school. That’s right, he’s meeting someone after school. And that person was the one who he had met yesterday.

Shiota Nagisa.

They had promised to meet again today, and Karma couldn’t help but feel excited. They had talked about lots of things the day before, and surprisingly, Nagisa and Karma had a lot of things in common. It was surprising to the point it both scared and astonished the redhead. And he had to admit that he had taken an interest in the blue-haired boy, despite the fact that they had just met yesterday.

A wide smile stretched from cheek to cheek. Karma couldn’t wait for school to end. He wanted to see Nagisa once again.

And he was too revolved around Nagisa, that he was careless enough to not notice a certain girl’s chary gaze on him.

* * *

 

For some reason, Karma was scared Nagisa wouldn’t come, so that he couldn’t help but to let out a sigh of relief when he saw the blue-haired boy sitting on one of the two swings. Karma shuffled toward the boy and greeted him with a smile, which was replied back the same way, and took a seat on the other swing.

“How was your day, Nagisa-kun?”

“It was fine,” was all he said. “How was your day?”

A smile crept on the redhead’s lips as he proceeded to answer. “It was great. Actually, according to my friend, there’s this new cafe near the skirt of the mountain. Do you want to go there tomorrow?”

It was just for a moment, but he thought he’d caught a glimpse of a doleful smile on Nagisa’s face, but when Karma blinked, all he could only see was a cheerful smile he always sees on the blue-haired’s countenance.

Nagisa scratched his cheeks while giving him an apologetic smile. “Sorry, I have something to do tomorrow, so I can’t.”

“Oh.” Kara frowned, but then smiled again. “Then, how about the day after tomorrow?”

This time, he thought he’d seen a grimace, but next second, all he could see was the same smile.

“Sure!”

The two of them then proceeded to talk about one topic to another. They talked about their favorite shows, their favorite books, their favorite subject, and alike. They also talked about Karma’s perfect scores despite of his laziness, Karma’s family, Karma’s class, Karma’s amazing friends, Karma’s everything—but they had never talked about Nagisa. But Karma didn’t care. As long as he could see the blue-haired boy’s smiles and laughs, he didn’t care.

Everything was fine, until someone interrupted them.

“Karma-kun?”

Upon being called by a familiar voice, Karma spun his head around, once again his golden orbs met with a pair of yellow ones. Akari.

Carving a smile up his lips, Karma waved at the girl. “Oh, hey, Akari-chan! On your way home from the cafe?”

“...Yeah,” she said. She was making a weird face, and it made Karma a bit attentive. “Who are you talking to, Karma-kun?”

At this, Karma’s attentiveness vanished, replaced by a somewhat psyched manner. He gestured at the boy who was sitting on the other swing with a smile. “This is Shiota Nagisa-kun.” Karma turned his head to the boy—but he saw an expression he didn’t expect.

Sadness. Woe. Despondency.

 _Despair_.

“N-Nagisa-kun? What’s wrong?” he said in a solicitous tone, but he gained no answer. He swung his head to the green-haired girl, his mien nescient and clueless. And he could say that he was not surprised when he saw a glower across the Akari’s countenance. “Hey, what’s the meaning of this?” he demanded.

It took her quite a moment to answer, and her answer didn’t even manage to satisfy Karma one bit. “Ah, no,” she said, averting her gaze from them. “It’s nothing. Sorry for bothering you.” And then, as if she hadn’t done anything, she scurried off.

“Ah—hey wait!” But before he could even run after her, she receded from his view.

The redhead hissed in irritation, before turning his head back to Nagisa, demanding answers.

But he, too, had vanished into thin air.

“What... the hell...”

* * *

 

Two days had passed since that bizarre occurrence, and Karma still couldn’t stop thinking about it. Yesterday, Akari had completely steered clear of him, and it only made him more and more vexed. And the fact that Nagisa was busy so he couldn’t see him didn’t help either.

And today, too, was the same. She didn’t even bother to join the usual group—consisting of him, Sugino, Okuda, and Kanzaki, so it was only the four of them. Karma had tried to go to Akari after school, too, but once he started to walk toward her, she literally ran away as if he was trying to capture her.

Frustrated, Karma let out a sigh.

“Whatever...” He ran a hand through his crimson locks, and formed a smile. He couldn’t careless. He’s going to go to that new cafe with Nagisa today after all. He couldn’t careless about anything else but that.

As usual, he found Nagisa sitting on one of the two swings, his hands holding both of the corroded chains and his feet pushing the ground so the swing swung back and forth. However, his facade seemed dark. Karma approached the boy with a concerned manner. “Nagisa-kun, are you okay?”

The boy stopped his pushes and snapped his head up, his blue orbs touching Karma’s golden ones. “A-ah, yeah! I’m okay,” he smiled.

Karma, of course, wasn’t convinced. “Are you sure?”

Nagisa nodded. “Yes, yes! I have nothing to worry about.”

The redhead still wasn’t convinced, but nevertheless, he shrugged it off for the sake of the other male. Splitting a smile across his pale features, Karma beamed, “So, are we still going to the cafe?”

“A-Ah, sure!”

The two of them then began to make their way toward the zebra crossing that will lead them to the cafe—but right before they stepped off the side of the road, Nagisa stopped abruptly, worrying Karma.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

Nagisa stood there in silence for a few moment that seemed to be eternity, but then he shook his head as if to remove an unpleasant thought off his head. Then, he shot Karma a smile. “No, no, it’s nothing!” Nagisa took Karma’s hand, pulling him toward the zebra cross. “Come on, Karma-kun!”

Albeit bewildered, Karma allowed himself to be dragged by the blue-haired boy. But he did not expect that things would get grave.

Everything seemed to slow down, and from the corner of his eyes, Karma could see Akari shouting something at him, and for some reason he did not know, she looked quite overwrought. She looked like she was warning him concerning something, but he was too oblivious to know what it was.

Then he looked to his left.

A truck was moving toward him in high-speed, and that was when Karma snapped out of it. Reacting swiftly, Karma screamed, “Nagisa-kun!” He tried to grab the said boy’s hand, but—

But since when did his grip go empty exactly?

Karma’s head shot upward, and his golden orbs touched with a pair of aquamarine ones—and an apologetic smile.

“I’m sorry, Karma-kun.”

His breath hitched, his mouth gaped open—but nothing could come out.

_. . . Ah. I remebered it all._

A genuine smile was carved upon Karma’s pale countenance.

And then, a collision.

 — — —

_Your body, laying lifeless and cold._

_My cries echoing throughout the lobby._

_That empty chair I was curious of.  
_

_It was yours, wasn't it?  
_

 — — —

Thirty minutes had already passed since the others left, but Akari was still standing there. Donning a black dress, she looked very pretty—if only she wasn’t attending a funeral. The rain that was pouring down, slowly turning into a heavy downpour heavily complemented the grim ambience, and it was not helping. If any, it only made things worse.

Her lower lip was bruised. Too much bites, it seemed. Akari clenched her fists so tightly until they trembled and her knuckles turned white.

Akari trembled; her tears were hidden by the rain.

“I know you’re egoistical sometimes, but why . . .”

The girl looked up to the sky. The cloud was a shade of grey, producing endless drops of water—some of them landed on Akari’s face.

“Why do you have to take Karma-kun too?”

 _You, too, are egoistical, Akari_ , she reminded herself.

A hand—no—tentacle landed on Akari’s shoulder, startling her. Her eyes softened a bit, but they still look as glacial as ever.

“Let’s go back, Akari,” Koro-sensei said.

But Akari didn’t budge. Instead, she said, “Hey, sensei, do you remember Karma’s face when he found out what happened to Nagisa-kun a few months back?”

It took the teacher a while to answer back. “Yes,” he said. “I do. And I don’t think anyone can forget how painful he looked that day.”

A bitter laugh left Akari’s lips. “Yeah. And the next day, he lost his memories. That time, you told him he was suspended, but in reality, his memories disappeared . . . How tragic.”

“I suppose so,” said the teacher. “But they’re happy now. Up there,” he pointed at the sky. “See?”

But this wasn’t a fictional story. This was reality. The sky wasn’t going to automatically clear up once Koro-sensei pointed his tentacle at it. No.

The grey clouds were still covering the sky.

“Let’s go back,” Akari said, turning on her heels.

She wanted to be happy for them. She was forcing herself to. But she couldn’t.

_Class E isn’t the same Class E when you two aren’t there._

__―_ _―_ _―_ _

_I cannot say, and I will not say_  
_That he is dead. He is just away._  
_With a cheery smile, and a wave of the hand,_  
_He has wandered into an unknown land_  
_And left us dreaming how very fair_  
_It needs must be, since he lingers there._  
_And you—oh you, who the wildest yearn_  
_For an old-time step, and the glad return,_  
_Think of him faring on, as dear_  
_In the love of There as the love of Here._  
_Think of him still as the same. I say,_  
_He is not dead—he is just away.”_  
  
― James Whitcomb Riley

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, this is Kou, and I am back with another angst fic. A friend of mine gave me this prompt, so why not give it a shot? So, yeah.
> 
> I hope this was enough to successfully cheer you guys up.
> 
> I mean... Haha.
> 
> I just realized, from three of my fics of these two, I haven't written a fluff Karmagisa...


End file.
